The Mine
by The Demon Of Sloth
Summary: It was just a little prank. It was just a tiny shove. It was only just a few scrape to the knees. Magnus just wanted to pull off a small prank on her when she got a gold ore and he didn't. It was just a small prank. She has a few scrapes to the knees a little so she's a little slow. She'll rejoin the group eventually. Everything's fine. Just fine.


The Mine

If there was anything that children loved more than anything, it was adventure. Unless they were house dwellers, there was nothing more that excited the little runts than the thrill of the outdoors. If they were cooped indoors for too long, especially adventurous types, they might suffocate from boredom.

Magnus and his gang of friends were no different. Today, they all gathered in the treehouse that they painstakingly built and discussed about the things they would do today.

"I say we go climb mountains!" Soren suggested.

"Nah, I'd prefer to fight some mobs. I haven't practiced for a while; I think I'm getting rusty." Gabriel said as he stood up from the circle and started sparring with his stone sword.

"You all are booooring. _I'd_ say we go and blow stuff up!" Magnus shouted with enthusiasm, waving a piece of flint and steel in the air.

"Aren't they all a bit too much for us? How the nether are we supposed to climb mountains when we can't even survive climbing up fifty flights of stairs?" Ivor said.

"I agree with Ivor." Ellegaard said, crossing her arms. "And I'm sure as heck that fighting mobs would be a death wish for us, except Gabriel of course. And _don't_ get me started on blowing things up. I know what you're planning Magnus." She then gave Magnus an icy glare, which was almost enough to melt anybody else into a puddle of nothing, but Magnus wasn't just anybody else. He returned the glare with his own. Soon the duo were engaged in a miniature staring contest.

Instead of breaking them apart, Ivor stood up and walked towards a map that was pasted on the wall with duct tape. The edges of the map was yellowed with age and torn in some parts, but it still held up. He then scanned the map while tracing his fingers along the surface until he stopped at a particular area.

"Guys, I think I found an area that we haven't explored yet." Ivor said, piquing the interest of the group.

Soren dashed towards Ivor and slammed his palms on Ivor's shoulders. "Tell us potion man, where!?"

Groaning in annoyance, Ivor swatted Soren's hands off his shoulders. "I told you to stop calling me that! Anyway, there's this mine-"

"Mining? _Really?_ I thought we already did some mining a week ago, so why th-"

"Shut it Magnus. As I was saying, the mine that I speak of is the mine that is furthest from our town. You know, that mine that all the adults warned us to stay away from?"

"Oh yeah… wait… are you suggesting to us that we're going to go mining at that mine? Are you nuts, Ivor!?" Ellegaard screeched, grabbing Magnus's right hand and squeezed it with incredible strength to show her disapproval.

"I know, I know. We'll just mine near the surface." Ivor reassured through the yells of pain from Magnus.

"But… there must be a reason as to why we were told to stay away! What if it's infested with mob spawners? What if it's filled with mine bombs? What if-"

Magnus slapped his palms onto Ellegaard's mouth to silence her. "Don't be such a scardey-cat. You're always so careful and shit, it's annoying. If you wanna have a _real_ adventure, you must take risks!"

"Besides," Gabriel stopped sparing and sat next to Ellegaard. "We'll be the first ones to explore the unexplored! Just think about all the great things the other kids will say about us! The Order Of The Stone make it back from the Forbidden Mine alive!"

At this point, it was very difficult for Ellegaard to convince the others to abort the plan and make up a new one. She may be the most influential of the group, but with their minds all set, it was literally impossible to get them to change their minds now.

 _(Just for once)_ She thought as she nodded her head reluctantly. Maybe she should heed their advice and try to loosen up a bit.

 **…**

"Okayyyyy, you guys remember the plan? Ellegaard and I will place down torches while Gabriel and Magnus clear the path, and Ivor will help us watch our back just in case." Soren briefed them on the plan.

They managed to execute the plan with little effort. There were only less than a dozen mobs which Gabriel swiftly took care of, and soon the mine was all lit up with an alarming number of torches scattered all over the walls.

To their awe, the mine was filled to the brim with coal and iron ores. It wasn't much, considering that they were only near the surface, but it will do. Besides, they only needed to step foot in here to prove that they have dared to tread into the Forbidden Mine.

They immediately dispersed like ripe seeds from a pod, armed with their trusty pickaxes and going on their own to mine as much as they could. The whole area was filled with stone coming into contact with stone tools and the excited pants from the children.

While filling up his bag with iron ores, Ellegaard's shrilly screech almost made Magnus drop his ores in shock.

"My Notch! I found a gold ore!"

"What? Holy enderman! Where did you find it?" Soren exclaimed as he rushed towards her and grabbed her pointed at a hole that she mined.

While the others crowded around Ellegaard, Magnus stayed put. He frowned deeply and gritted his teeth in annoyance. ( _She just got lucky),_ he thought as he swung his pickaxe, envy filling his entire being. Why was the better and luckier one always Ellegaard? It seemed that no matter how hard he worked, it was always Ellegaard who outshined him effortlessly every time. Admittedly, she was so much better than him in nearly everything. She was so… perfect. Up to the point that it hurt. She was human, right? Humans make mistakes, so surely she must mess up at least _once._ Unfortunately, it seemed that the heavens favoured the redstone nerd and bestowed her with utmost perfection.

And he hated her. No, loathed her. Despised her.

 _(Just mess up for once, dammit!)_

"Oh goodie! After this we must do something prove that we stepped foot in here!" Soren said as he snatched Gabriel's sword and began carving out their group's name on the wall.

Just then, Magnus came up with a brilliant scheme to take his revenge on his rival. It was so amazing that he started grinning broadly at the thought of executing it on her.

While the others were occupied with their business, Magnus slowly crept up towards Ellegaard and pretended to trip on a piece of stone and landed unceremoniously on top of her. The girl let out a piercing cry of pain and she used all of her strength to push him off.

"What's the deal? Stop being so childish!" Ellegaard chided. She then winced and looked at her knees that were badly injured. Fresh blood oozed out from the cuts. Pieces of stone, dirt and other miscellaneous substances were stuck in the wound, adding to the pain.

"I'm sorry that I tripped! Seriously…" Magnus lied without stuttering.

"Shut up! You're just jealous!"

"Says who! You're so stuck-up!"

"And you're just a jerk!"

"There! You proved to everyone here that you're a massive jerk!"

"Says the short-tempered little shorty that grieves people's houses for no reason!"

"What did you say!?"

"Oh I'm sorry… I said… YOU'RE A JERK!"

"Oh YEAH? YOU SMARTASS!"

The duo argued and argued, their insults and comebacks bouncing off the stone walls of the cave. The other three just looked at each other while shrugging their shoulders, not wanting to get involved in the heated argument.

It could have been minutes or hours, but nobody knew when or where the voice resounded. But the trio were certain that the voice made its appearance after Magnus hurled his pickaxe down a deep trench. At first it let out a few deep moans akin to a zombie, but afterwards it let out an ear bleeding screech that almost made them go deaf. They tried to cover their ears but it was futile. Ellegaard and Soren started crying, and it was then when the beast rose from the trench.

The beast looked like a monster from a child's nightmare. It was skinless and it was made out of rotting flesh, armed with a stench that was beyond horrid. Its eye sockets were devoid of any eyeballs exposing its orbital contents within. Heavy threads of saliva trickled from its yellowed teeth and its pointed tongue wagged out of its opened mouth. It stood on eight legs like a spider, and the most disturbing part was its brain encased in a transparent shell. Whether it was worms or… something else wriggling inside the fluids of the shell containing its brain, they weren't keen on finding out.

Magnus was the first to run, followed by the others who were screaming hysterically.

There was another scream.

They didn't bother to look behind knowing very well that the monster was hot in pursuit. They ran at speeds that they never ran before. If their lives weren't on the line at the moment, they would have been impressed with themselves.

When they finally reached the surface, they didn't stop to take a break, fearing that the monster would still give chase. Until they were a good distance away from the cave, they collapsed onto the green grass. For the next few moments they tried to catch their breaths while wiping sweat from their foreheads. Never before had they felt that relieved to be in contact with grass and soil.

"Is… _pant…_ everyone safe?" Gabriel asked as he looked at his friends.

Soren whimpered as he curled himself into a ball, muttering about how he'll never go mining again while Ivor tried to comfort him.

Magnus let out a hearty laugh. "Aaahhhhhhh~ that was craaaaaaazy! No wonder... _pant…_ it's called the Forbidden Mine! Say, you and Soren... _pant…_ were crying like little babies... _pant…_ You're a bunch of cowards! Isn't that right Ellie?"

He expected a retort or a weak punch on the shoulder, but he only heard pants and Soren's whimpering. He opened his mouth to hurl an insult to trigger Ellegaard, but when he scanned the group, he broke out in cold sweat. He trembled as he scanned the group several times, shaking his head ever so slightly in denial.

"Guys… where's Ellegaard?" Gabriel asked as he turned to face Magnus.

Magnus cracked a smile that was too wide to be considered normal. "She's on her way! She scraped her knees a little so she's a little slow, but she'll rejoin us soon!" When Soren and Ivor turned to face him, his smile widened even more that it threatened to tear his cheekbones.

"Stop looking at me like that! Everything's fine! Just fine!"

 **This is an entry for a contest in Wattpad. :3**

 **I wanted to avoid the 'meeting in school' or a flashback scenario, and I also wanted to avoid the happy and lighthearted atmosphere where kids would play tag or hide and seek, and the overly sad atmosphere where the kid gets abused/bullied since I've seen childhood themed stories with this kinda stuff. Guess you could say I wanted to be a little original.**

 **I'm more into dark and angst themes rather than fluff so I thought why the hell not.**


End file.
